The 5 best building inspectors in Whangārei

Scope is a locally owned and operated business that provides honest, unbiased advice to homeowners. The inspection team has over 20 years of experience in construction.

Reviews say the team are fantastic to deal with and professional, with some mentioning that they received same day turnarounds. 

Asset Property Inspections have around 33 years of experience in the building industry and offer detailed inspections, meth testing, weather tightness inspections, certificates of inspection and more. They encourage questions after the report is done to ensure you understand its contents, and their online booking process allows you to request a quick turnaround. 

Reviews confirm Simon (the main inspector) is happy to take questions, and say he’s great to deal with and provides a very comprehensive, easy to understand report. 

Betta Inspect it in Whangārei is run by Steve Harrison, a local, qualified inspector with years of experience. He’s also a trained carpenter and a licensed building practitioner, so he knows what it takes to fix problems as well as identify them. Steve’s inspections cover all the essentials including roof, cladding, plumbing and foundations. He also offers testing for meth and asbestos and property condition assessments. 

Reviewers praise Steve’s professionalism, detailed reports and mention that they received their report on the same day as the inspection. 

THIS, or Total Home Inspection Services, are a franchise with branches throughout the country. The Northland one is owned by Jess. Jess and the team offer building reports for sellers and buyers, meth testing and healthy homes assessments. They also promise report turnaround within 24 hours from inspection. 

Their reviews are perfect – many mention quick communication, a quality report, cost effectiveness and say that Jess provided advice on how problems could be remedied. 

Red LBP is a big franchised company, with offices all over New Zealand, and a particularly good one in Whangārei. The owner and operator, Jamie Mackintosh, is a local with 30 years experience in the construction industry, including time on the tools. He’s also got experience in property development, which gives him an edge when providing tips to investors (and all buyers). 

Jamie has 44 perfect reviews on Google. His customers say the report arrived on the same day as the inspection, that the whole process took less than a week, and that Jamie provided detailed advice and a comprehensive report. 

Contact your chosen building inspector as soon as possible to book in a time, because the good ones tend to get busy. 

• You’ll need to provide them with the real estate agent or vendor’s contact details if you’re buying a property. 

• They’ll get in touch with the agent or vendor to arrange access, then do the inspection on the arranged date.

• Once they’re done you should get a report within 24 hours. The document should have multiple pages, including room-by-room commentary on the building's condition, plus photos.

After you’ve received the report, most building inspectors are happy to take your phone call to answer questions and explain parts of the report in layman's terms.

It’s a great idea to ask about the cost of repairing issues - many building inspectors can provide a very rough estimate based on what they’ve seen. You can then either avoid the property based on those costs, or use the report and issues as a bargaining chip to reduce the property’s purchase price.

The cost of building inspections varies depending on the size and location of your home and what you require. That said, generally you can expect to spend around:

• $400 to $550 for a building inspection. 

• $200 to $250 for a meth test.

• $250 to $300 for a Healthy Homes report.

• $$750 to 1,000+ for a weathertightness report. 

If you live in a rural location far from Whangārei inspectors may also charge you a small travel fee.